Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Feb 1, 2012, 4:53 am
I'm finding transition from one position to another is irksome.  We just completed stage two of our IWB rollout, with eight more boards installed today.  Testing each board and ensuring computers are set up correctly for teachers is becoming a troublesome task.  Each installation had it's own qui...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jan 29, 2012, 7:50 am
Classes where students are taken out of school for a day and then remain in stage three courses in year 11, in the majority of cases are setting students up to fail.  A student missing for a whole day each week, in a challenging course, lacking any evident independent learning skills is not destine...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jan 24, 2012, 6:25 pm
Nothing like a promotion to bring in the new year.  One of the stranger structures in the public education system is the Teacher in Charge(TiC).  It's a position between teacher and Head of department(HoD).  The pay rise is minimal, the teaching load the same as a classroom teacher and the respon...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jan 20, 2012, 7:47 am
Today was the fifth and last day of summer school. It's an event we run for students destined for stage 3 maths in year 12. Students benefit from being ready from the start of term, are more organized and are given guidance on material to be presented during the new year.  Teachers and tutors get ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jan 13, 2012, 5:02 am
The equation editor in activeInspire broke with the tickover of the year and a javascript error. This has been fixed in the latest update. Russ.
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 22, 2011, 10:07 pm
A Merry Christmas to all,  may it be filled with joy, children and the gifts that fill your world with love and happiness. Next year promises to be another great one.  I look forward to posting again in the new year. Russ.
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 22, 2011, 9:13 pm
Here is a table that comes from a National Curriculum broadsheet.  It contains some interesting insights. The first is fractions and decimals finished at yr 6.  I haven't seen many year 10 classes confidently performing four operations on decimals or fractions without a calculator.
...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 21, 2011, 9:58 pm
Five years ago.. I didn't know how to play guitar I didn't own an awful lot of board games I didn't have this blog I didn't know how to teach well I hadn't experienced 5 years of wonderful kids seeking to excel I hadn't worked with some exceptionally dedicated pe...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 21, 2011, 8:18 pm
Extrinsic reward point systems often end in probability based rewards to reduce cost.  The more points in for the week, the higher the probability of winning a prize.  Like most extrinsic reward systems they have instant impact and then reduce gradually over the year unless continually renewed...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 18, 2011, 7:15 pm
Sickness is a constant issue as a teacher.  By the end of term, we're all a bit run down and as soon as the adrenaline cuts out, you tend to hit the wall.  If it's not the flu, it's migraine..  I'd estimate that at least half of the staff report to be susceptable to migraines.  As curri...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 16, 2011, 10:50 pm
The King is dead.  Long live the King. For those that don't know, WACOT is being repealed and a new Teachers registration board is being set up. I just read through the new bill. Teacher representation on the board is now at the discretion and invitation of the minister. Requirements f...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 16, 2011, 7:48 pm
Four years ago, I started posting here to record the journey from practicum teacher to teacher.  Stats on the blog have shown that reflective posts are the least interesting and posts that relate to improvement in the classroom are the most read. I have often wondered why.  It could just be ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 14, 2011, 4:39 pm
I'm an idiot.  I really must be, because I don't understand and I can't understand the logic of the criticism no matter how the concept of "Empire Building" has been explained to me. We have an inspirational maths department (not my words but that of a teacher outside our department).  Kids ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Dec 11, 2011, 6:44 am
I don't know if anyone noticed but SSTUWA negotiated a 3.75% pay rise (12% over 3 years + the 1/2+ year lost already) on 9 December.  It will be interesting to see what conditions have been traded and if it actually ends up covering inflation over the period.  I shouldn't be skeptical, but ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 12, 2011, 6:17 pm
The following games are the ones I've found best work in the classroom. They're quick to learn, easy to find, under an hour to play and a bit of fun. I'd have a set of these in every classroom with kids over 12: Citadels Dixit (replaced Apples to apples on this list) Carca...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 8, 2011, 8:52 am
There are two forms of compromise. The common and often poorer solution is to take two productive but polar view points, mash them together and end up with a result worse than either of the orignal suggestions. In this instance often neither side is willing to respect the view of the other and a c...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 6, 2011, 7:36 am
I've been critical of the outcomes of standardised testing and its effects on teaching. I was reading the following and seeing some of my predictions come true in the US, home of the standardised test and the no child left behind program. We have only a limited time to reverse direction before we ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 5, 2011, 8:36 pm
Regular readers will know I take inspiration from my 2 year old daughter. Yesterday, we were at the playground and she ran herself silly but was afraid of the slide. To be honest, it was high and a bit fast for her but I figured she went on a roller coaster, why not a slide. The first time, ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 4, 2011, 7:25 pm
Staff in an education environment have little reason to be competitive. There is little opportunity for advancement, extra work brings no monetary reward or toil and the more done, the more is expected. There is a form of anti competition. Those that do succeed are compared to other successes...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Oct 4, 2011, 12:31 am
I went to playgroup with my young daughter. A little girl tried to grab a ball that she was playing with. She pushed the girl away who then complained that my daughter wouldn't share. Two minutes later I was playing throw with my daughter. The other girl, with tears in her eyes, came and jo...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 26, 2011, 6:49 pm
This year has been a better year for planned revision. Courses ended on time leaving a gap where we could do some in class work. To give ownership of the process to students, We pulled out the syllabus and decided what would be done in class together and what would be done on their own. For ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 21, 2011, 8:20 am
Many of our students are on Portfolio pathway - an alternate entry strategy for students to get into university.  I sat down with our careers adviser this morning to get an idea of what was involved in portfolio pathway. The bottom line is that only two subjects are required to be passed (one...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 3, 2011, 8:20 am
I have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom.  It's a 2.1m wide Promethean with a short throw projector.  I was reticent about getting an IWB as I had one in the past and it was smaller than a normal whiteboard, laggy, difficult to see in full light, was easy to cast a shadow upon while writin...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 2, 2011, 11:40 pm
Teachers are required to complete a range of duties other than face to face teaching time. Assignments and tests take time to be written and marked, programmes take time to be written, lessons need to be planned for, revision materials gathered, student teachers mentored, behavioural issues resolved...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 2, 2011, 6:21 am
Bethany usually writes well thought out pieces, but I don't understand the reasoning behind today's West article. If the intent was to start another round of teacher bashing then it will probably succeed. After all, teachers work between 9am and 3pm, forty weeks of the year. What a bunch of bludgers...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Sep 1, 2011, 7:07 am
I've made a number of attempts to utilise laptops within my classroom. The first three times were fraught with IT issues. The last time was not, but failed to be more effective than a teacher directed lesson. I discussed this with Apple distributors today and they acknowledged that maths was...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Aug 27, 2011, 7:08 pm
The Maths Dept runs four after school classes, two on Monday and two on Tuesday.  All classes are optional.  Students come that need help in particular topics, split by 9/10 and 11/12.  The senior school classes typically are seeking consolidation and the 9/10 class is typically those seeking ext...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Aug 27, 2011, 12:24 am
There are many ways to motivate students to learn.  A common way is to provide extrinsic reward - "the bribery model".  This is a technique that is especially effective to provide short term performance gains, especially where the skill is not particularly exciting.  As the name suggests, its und...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Aug 9, 2011, 7:20 am
Now that the majority of government schools are either independent or becoming independent public schools, the rush is on for schools to examine their current practices as restricted by the department and seek ways to differentiate from nearby schools. I welcome some things about independent p...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 21, 2011, 1:37 am
Developing strategic thinking in students is an emerging issue.  Living in a world of instant gratification, the ability to think is less prevalent in classes today.  The need for general knowledge seemingly has passed and rote learning tasks have been removed from WA curriculum.  There is little...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 19, 2011, 3:06 am
Any long time reader knows that I am a big critic of scheduled professional development days..  Most tend to be filled with administrative tasks and very little professional development is actually done.  Well, here I am now having to deliver a session to the local primary schools and I sit in the...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 18, 2011, 8:28 pm
Many of us have bad memories about proofs in the classroom and learned to switch off whenever they arrived.  After all, they were never assessed and the skill required always followed shortly after.   In texts today, the proofs are often missing and skills are instantly presented as the required...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 8, 2011, 8:45 pm
The last day of term was a lot of fun.  The praccies wound up their classes and went off into the wide world.  Students went off for break... .. and a long two terms finished on programme with tasks completed.  All good so far. We were very lucky this time with two great practicum students ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 4, 2011, 8:38 am
I've thought for a long time that we fail to appreciate that there are a range of teachers required in education as different teaching styles benefit different students.  Our teaching practicum system has a tendency to promote outgoing, gregarious teachers and discourage practicum teachers that are...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 4, 2011, 5:32 am
http://www.theonion.com/articles/department-of-education-study-finds-teaching-these,18461/ Saying what we would like to say.. Even if it is a little exaggerated.
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 3, 2011, 3:48 am
The school has recently sprung for an interactive whiteboard for my classroom.  A Promethean 2.1m wide board.  We purchased it from Concept AV, who have successfully added themselves to my list of inept IT organisations.  At this stage, I can't recommend them.  In fact I probably can't recommend...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jul 2, 2011, 3:23 am
Interesting article on the state of mathematics education in the SMH.
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 28, 2011, 9:33 am
The lack of curriculum standards in WA worsens with the implementation phase of National Curriculum continuing to be a lukewarm affair.  Schools continue to drag their feet with implementation for fear of 'disadvantaging' students that have received an Outcomes based education over the past gener...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 24, 2011, 7:38 pm
Schools have usually had quite fixed hierarchy, with about ratios of 1:7. Each 7 people have a direct line manager. In recent years I've begun to suspect that this is breaking down into more flat management structures. In mathematics departments there are a number of structures that can be p...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 18, 2011, 8:17 pm
From hits on previous pages, this is an active topic in teaching.  Leaving teaching college, we were all informed of the negative nature of streaming and how research showed that there was no benefit to students.   As discussed previously Hattie's extensive research showed that the benefit was sm...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 18, 2011, 10:56 am
Retaining specialist teachers when the half cohort reaches senior school is another challenge for state schools across WA.  Small schools will reach critical numbers where staff/student ratios will fall below that required to run core subjects.  Where year 11/12 student levels drop below 150, it i...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 10, 2011, 10:37 pm
Maintaining 100% graduation is a constant battle in state schools.  It is a combination of students understanding expectations, good subject selection practices, identifying students at risk, providing intervention to put students back on the path to passing and providing effective alternate paths ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 8, 2011, 5:29 am
I don't normally look forward to being left in charge of the maths team but in short spells it can be quite enjoyable. There was a nice feeling in the team today that was jovial, yet productive. There was a combination of teaching students, assisting colleagues, developing skills in student teache...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 5, 2011, 8:44 pm
It was a nice idea leaving marking at school rather than bringing it home.. but it hasn't worked.. I'm just sitting here thinking about it. bugger.
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 4, 2011, 8:17 pm
A common problem of many teachers is taking a wad of marking home over the weekend and my best solution to date has been to bring it back unmarked and untouched. It's the 'taking exam papers for a holiday' solution. Being focused on improving the middle can be a trying task. I really enjoy m...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Jun 1, 2011, 9:20 am
The teacher voice is something that many teachers are told they need to learn.  I think sometimes the 'teacher voice' is a catchall phrase that practicum teachers can have some difficulty learning.. I know I did as a practicum teacher. Being soft spoken, it is something that I had to approach...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - May 31, 2011, 5:07 am
There is another side of taking practicum teachers - the side where the teacher instructors benefit.  A good practicum teacher is worth their weight in gold.  Some of the reasons for taking a practicum student: They are the bees of education, cross pollinating ideas from one school to another and ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - May 26, 2011, 8:48 am
I think every practicum teacher goes through questioning why lesson plans are useful.  Some find them odious and don't see the value of creating something that rarely executes as expected.  As a teacher instructor, I find lesson plans a real insight into what is intended by a practicum teacher.  ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Apr 15, 2011, 9:07 am
Last month we hit 1000 visitors in a month for the first time (1111 in fact).. which is a fair bit for my little blog.. hello to everyone out there.. I hope there's a snippet you can take something from. I'm sure that there's a few teachers looking forward to the holidays and wondering how we ...
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Russell M. posted an article on Education WA - Apr 8, 2011, 8:47 pm
I was in school.  I had an English teacher that was rude, abrupt and many students couldn't stand him.  He changed my life in that he found issues with my essay skills and fixed them.  Every Friday afternoon for two years we wrote essays.  On the day before we finished he said to the class.. wha...
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